Hundreds of students and faculty members of Jawaharlal Nehru University paid tribute to late CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, as his body was kept at JNUSU office for paying homage on Friday.

Yechury (72), a pragmatic Communist and one of the key architects of the Left bastion in JNU, died on Thursday at a hospital here after battling a lung infection.

With the famous "Laal Salam" slogan, Left supporters paid respect to the Left stalwart, whose mortals where kept in a casket adorned with flowers.

"Long live comrade Sitaram Yechury" read a banner placed above the garlanded photograph of the veteran leader surrounded with the students and faculty members.

As a student at JNU, Yechury was a part of the Students Federation of India (SFI), which he joined in 1974 and was arrested a few months later during the Emergency. He served as the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) thrice during 1977–78.

Yechury was elected as All-India Joint Secretary of SFI in 1978 and later became its All India President.

When he became SFI president in 1978, he was the first person who did not belong to either West Bengal or Kerala to occupy the post.

Yechury is survived by his wife Seema Chishti and his two children, Akhila and Danish. His elder son, Ashish Yechury, passed away due to Covid in 2021. Yechury was earlier married to Indrani Mazumdar.

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